THEME:
Calls to repentance of the remnant which, although it returned to
Palestine to reestablish proper worship and service of Jehovah, had already gone
far astray and was well on the road to the apostasy which our Lord Jesus
found among the Pharisees and Sadducees when He came to earth.

Malachi

Malachi was the last of the
Prophets (a minor prophet), and the writer of the last book of the Old Testament
canon. Nothing is known of him beyond what is contained in his book of
prophecies.

CONTEMPORARIES: He wrote sometime after Nehemiah. No allusion is made
to him by Ezra, and he does not mention the restoration of the temple, and hence
it is inferred that he prophesied after Haggai and Zechariah, and when
the temple services were still in existence.

The Date:

We can only estimate the date
of Malachi’s ministry. We know the time was postexilic (after 536 B.C., largely
the Persians had let Israel return to Jerusalem). The Temple had been rebuilt.
Evidently Malachi was a contemporary of Nehemiah. Their books show kinship. The
same social and religious conditions prevail in both, and Nehemiah’s reforms
were probably intended to correct some of the social and religious abuses
outlined by Malachi.

The people of Israel who
returned to Jerusalem from Persia in 536 B.C. came with high hopes. In Isaiah
40‑55 the prophet painted a future for those repatriated people in such glowing
terms that they expected the messianic age to come immediately. The prophets
Haggai and Zechariah added to these hopes by assuring the people that
unprecedented blessings would come when the Temple was complete. They finished
the Temple in 516 B.C. [Ezra 6:14‑15) and waited and waited, but no blessings
came. Instead of blessings they faced drought, famine, poverty, oppression, and
unfaithfulness to spouses and to God. Moral and spiritual laxity, pride,
indifference, permissiveness, and skepticism.

The Book:

The purpose of Malachi was to
assure his people that God still loved them, but He demanded honor, respect, and
faithfulness from them. Malachi pointed out religious and social abuses and
warned that judgment would come to purge the people of sin unless they repented.

This book is frequently
referred to in the New Testament (Matt. 11:10; 17:12; Mark 1:2; 9:11, 12; Luke
1:17; Rom. 9:13).

I. The Old Testament
Hebrew Canon
(straight edge or ruler) and Prophets

The Hebrew bible places the
books into a different order, so the order of the books here may be a little
confusing.

The first
five books of the Old Testament Canon are called the Pentateuch or
sometime just referred to as “The Law”. (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy)

The second
sub-division of the OT Canon is called, “The Prophets.” (The Theological
emphasis of the prophets ‑ that God, as the Lord of history and providence, was
controlling the issues an movements of history for a purpose. With one voice the
prophets declare that this purpose, toward which all history is being directed,
is the establishment of the kingdom of God ‑ the sovereign reign and rule of God
upon Earth).

First there are the “Former”
prophets (They spoke of “Former” things). (Joshua, Judges, 1‑2Samuel, 1‑2Kings)

Then there are the “Latter”
prophets (They spoke of “Current and/or Future” things). Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and… “The Twelve” minor prophets, who wrote in three distinct ages.

The Assyrian Period: Hosea,
Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum.

The Babylonian Period:
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and

The Persian Period:
Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

The Third
sub-division of the OT Canon is called, “The Writings (The Kethubim).” This
division is also broken down into three sub-divisions.

A. The Poetic Books

The Book of Truth (The first
Hebrew letter of each of these books taken together spells emeth or truth in
English), Job, Proverbs, Psalms, The five books of the Megilloth (Scrolls or
Rolls) (Each book was read at an important Jewish festival, a practice that
continues to this day). Song of Songs (Passover), Ruth (Pentecost), Lamentations
(Fast of the Ninth of Ab, commemorating the destruction of both Temples),
Ecclesiastes (Feast of Tabernacles), and Esther (Purim).

B. The Historical Books

Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1‑2
Chronicles

Hebrew prophets never predict
the future simply to satisfy idle curiosity, nor merely to draw attention to
themselves. Prophecy of the future is never an isolated utterance, but is to
find meaning in its bearing upon the future kingdom of God and the Messiah. On
the other hand, it is not the biblical view to suppose that prophecy is to be
limited to the disclosure of the future. "That which is given by the Spirit to
the prophet can refer to the past and to the present as well as to the future."

It is absolutely imperative for
a proper understanding of the nature of Old Testament prophecy to realize that
the source of the prophetic message, while it often was related to the
historical circumstances in which the prophet lived, was nevertheless
supernatural in its origin. It was derived from neither observation, reason,
speculation, innate “gut feeling,” or the imagination, but was the result of
divine revelation.

The divine origin of the
prophetic institution is set forth by Moses himself in Deuteronomy 18:9‑22.
Moses, who never came into direct contact with the religious institutions of
Canaan, declared in this passage that there was to be an institution of prophets
raised up who would declare the messages of God, and that this office would one
day culminate in one great prophet like unto himself.

Samuel period (institution of
prophets organized through Samuel, but existed "from the beginning," Luke
11:49‑51) (The time period ends with the inauguration of Saul as the “age of the
Kings” begins).

Two classes of prophets
developed

The Rechabites
‑ involved with the annihilation of the house of Ahab to eliminate Baal worship
from Israel ‑ they abstained from intoxicating wine and continued to live in
tents as nomads after Israel had settled in houses and cities in Canaan as a
protest against the corrupting influences of urban civilization.

The Nazirites
‑ an individual who had taken special religious vows. He drank no wine; he
scrupulously avoided unnatural defilement and touched no dead body. He was
clean, undefiled, and devoted to Yahweh's service (Samuel was a Nazirite).

The Prophets expounded and
interpreted the Mosaic revelation to the nation

The Prophets were "divinely
appointed moral and ethical preachers and teachers of true religion as revealed
to Israel."

Predictive prophecy was
concerned with Judgment, Salvation, the Messiah, and His Kingdom. The prophets
were watchmen standing upon the walls of Zion to sound the trumpet against
dangers of religious apostasy.

Outstanding individuals
(Samuel, Elijah, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah)

Prophetic work undertaken by
bands or companies of prophets

Sons of the prophets (schools
of the prophets)

Outline of Malachi

Rebuke of Restored Remnant with
Announcement of Future Purging and Blessing.